Here at Live Wired, we couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the new year than to see one of our favorite bands perform. Last Saturday, on New Year’s Eve, Brand New performed at the House of Blues in Atlantic City to a sold-out crowd. Since the 2009 release of their album Daisy and subsequent tour, the band has mostly played one-off shows. However, the fact that this gig was one of those few shows was far from the most special thing about the night. For fans that traveled from all over the country to see Brand New play, the band put on one hell of a performance”they dressed up in suits for the occasion and treated the crowd to three different sets throughout the night.

The band kicked off the first part of the night with an entirely acoustic set. Two obvious choices for this part, ˜The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot and Play Crack The Sky, translated into beautiful and heartfelt performances, with the crowd singing along to every word. They mixed it up a bit by choosing to play Sic Transit Gloria¦Glory Fades, a much more aggressive song that seems like it wouldn’t work acoustically. They proved us wrong and turned the rendition into something wonderful, with the crowd and frontman Jesse Lacey singing different parts of the chorus.